"All I will say is that I was at Arsenal for a number of a years. I have always been straight. I have always given the maximum, even when I came back from injury and was not fully fit, I always played. I don’t know why he said this.

"I have been fair because I’ve respected my contract. I spent six years on the same contract and never went to the boss’ office to ask for more, but that’s life.

"It’s not about the money. Can you find one player in Europe who stayed six years on the same contract? That’s what I did and I never asked for anything."